WHITTIER – City officials are considering reinstating the Police Department’s two-member bicycle patrol team for the Uptown area, but that may not happen if property owners don’t support a business improvement district.

The City Council on Wednesday decided to wait until July to see if there is support for such a district that would involve some kind of assessment. The discussion came during the council’s budget study session.

The cost of a bike patrol would be about $360,000.

“I’m suggesting a compromise,” said Councilman Fernando Dutra. “We should allow the process to take hold. We’ve reached at least 30 percent of the property owners who are positive. Let’s see if we can get more. This might be a good motivator.”

Business community point of view

But members of the business community don’t want to wait, saying more of a police presence is needed to deal with increasing numbers of homeless, drug users and juvenile skateboarders crowding the sidewalks.

“My business has called (police) about people smoking pot in front of Starbucks,” said Robert Ruiz, owner of Melrose Vintage for the last 26 years.

“There’s public disorderliness because we have people in an altered state walking around,” Ruiz said, referring to individuals on meth or crack. “When we had the bike patrol, (police) would go out and clean up (the area). In one weekend, they could handle 150-200 calls.”

Olivia Rios, operations manager for the Whittier Uptown Association, said more police presence would encourage shoppers to come to the Uptown area.

“We have a lot of visitors in the summer months and it’s always nice to see patrols give that added safety value,” said Rios. “It’s really imperative that we get security out in the community sooner than July.”

The bicycle patrol program was eliminated as part of budget cuts made in 2010.

The business view was supported by Mayor Joe Vinatieri and Councilman Josue Alvarado.

“We have a clear and present problem we didn’t have a couple of years ago,” Vinatieri said. “We have aggressive homeless folks. The reality is we have an issue now.”

Dutra and Council members Bob Henderson and Cathy Warner want to wait until July, saying it will take a year before the police can hire and train two new officers.

Police Jeff Piper said there are problems.

While part-one crimes, such as burglary, robbery and assault, have not increased in the last three years, the department is getting many more calls for service, Piper said. Common issues include calls about children and teens riding their skateboards where they shouldn’t be.

A bicycle patrol would help, he said.

“When we had it from 2007-10, it was a huge benefit and the property owners loved it,” he said.

Balancing the budget

Council members didn’t spend much time discussing the overall budget, accepting a recommendation to balance a $3.7 million deficit by relying on a nearly $2.2 million signing bonus from two trash companies and $1.5 million of surplus solid waste collection funds the city already has.

The council also added $766,000 in nearly all one-time spending that will drop the existing general fund reserve to about $20.5 million.

New money was added to begin updating the city’s general fund, lobbying for a light-rail line to Whittier, a new floor for the Community Center gymnasium, improvements at Palm Park and Whittier Boulevard medians and a new computerized building permit system.

Uptown trash problems

The council also voted to spend $6,600 to restore Sunday pick-up service for trash cans in the Uptown area after getting complaints about overflowing waste that day.

City Manager Jeff Collier said he’s not sure for the reason for the change but wanted to make sure the problem is taken care of.

“We don’t want to have Uptown looking like that on a Sunday,” Collier said. “We can implement this immediately and have it effective this weekend.”

Mike Sprague started at the Whittier Daily News in April 1984. Since then, Sprague has covered every city in the Whittier Daily News circulation area, as well as political and water issues. Sprague received a bachelor's degree in communications and a master's degree in political science, both from Cal State Fullerton.